By Michael Rogers

Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe beat out 15 other contenders to win the second Man Booker International Prize, begun in 2005 and presented every two years to a living author. Achebe’s works include Things Fall Apart (1958) and Anthills of the Savannah (1988). Nadine Gordimer, who was one of the three judges, said that “Chinua Achebe’s early work made him the father of modern African literature as well as an integral part of world literature. He has gone on to achieve what one of his characters brilliantly defines as the writer’s purpose: ‘a new-found utterance’ for the capture of life’s complexity.” The award comes with £60,000 prize money. Other finalists for the prize included Ian McEwan, Carlos Fuentes, Philip Roth, Margaret Atwood, and Salman Rushdie.